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m1078 conversion to brush fire truck

Webrep

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6
Location
Ash Grove, MO
The departments I have talked to love the trucks but are trying to figure out the nuances lol. When we picked up ours there were 6 other ones waiting for pickup here in SW MO
 

Suprman

Well-known member
Supporting Vendor
6,861
696
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Location
Stratford/Connecticut
All the fire depts need to have a common forum of sort to share info like offroad load handling experiences and other info that can be helpful to the next FD.
 

Webrep

Member
58
0
6
Location
Ash Grove, MO
I am waiting for new pictures but a neighboring town made theirs into a tanker truck for the fire dept. I understand it has a baffled 1000 gallon tank mounted on the truck. 8,400 pounds of water is a bit over the 2.5 ton rating for the FMTV...lol
 

Webrep

Member
58
0
6
Location
Ash Grove, MO
Went back to Lebanon yesterday to pic up more stuff for our department and got lucky to pick up an aluminum 500 gallon water tank for the back of the FMTV. Its my understanding that the MO Department of Conservation has given out about 50 FMTV's to local fire departments in the last 4 months.
 

fasttruck

Well-known member
1,265
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Location
Mesa, AZ
If this considered "attack" apparatus I hope it is NFPA 1901 compliant. Otherwise if there is a problem it will no longer be "free."
 

Webrep

Member
58
0
6
Location
Ash Grove, MO
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus, recognizes seven classifications of new fire apparatus. They are pumper, initial attack, mobile water supply, mobile foam, aerial, quint, and a general catch-all classification called special service. Special service fire apparatus is a generic term encompassing support vehicles ranging in size from a Ford F-150 pickup truck to a multiaxle rig with an unlimited gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). The first six classifications are job-specific, and those apparatus must meet explicit criteria applicable to their individual function.

We will easily meet all requirements for special service which is true for all 50 FMTV's given out to departments in MO already and it is checked by the conservation department to ensure they are in service and compliant.
 

SEAFIRE

Member
210
6
18
Location
Seadrift Texas
Just to clarify; the LMTV is the 4x4, the FMTV is the 6x6 model of these trucks.

A sister Fire Dept just got a LMTV to turn into a Brush Truck. They also got a 800-Gallon stainless steel tank that I feel will be way too big for the truck.

We have a LMTV as well, but we are going to convert our HMMVW into a "small" brush truck first.
We are still running two 1968 M35A2's, but they are getting old.

I think that 500-Gallons or less in a low profile baffled tank would be best for a LMTV. We also talked about taking the bed off to lower the center of gravity.

The tank in your pictures has a high center of gravity and is un-baffled, I have several pictures on my computer of fire service M35's that have rolled over with these tanks, and the FMTV/LMTV are much "higher" and have less tires on the ground.

Another Fire Dept converted a FMTV into a brush truck, after looking at it we have talked about getting rid of the LMTV and getting a FMTV instead....
 

Webrep

Member
58
0
6
Location
Ash Grove, MO
Mounting a Water Tank on LMTV

The LMTV is our only choice since the FMTV's are not available. Most of the fire departments are using 400-500 gallon tanks on LMTV's distributed recently. We will use baffle balls and that will help reduce shifting at about 40%. I do understand your concerns and I was really advocating a low profile 400 gallon tank. I think it was only 21" tall but in our poor department free is hard to refuse. There will be very intense training on driving the truck and how to handle its operation by all fire fighters. Being as small as we are we have to drive slower and get there safe.

We have two of the military 1986 5/4 chevy trucks each carrying 200 gallons (1668 lbs) and we try to keep them full and fill on site after a fire to prevent the sloshing (no baffle balls in these). They handle very well with that much weight on them. They have been in service for over 4 years.

I was just seeking advice on mounting the tank : Near the cab or near the rear axle? Wondering if anyone else has experience putting weight on these trucks. Btw - the tank pictured is only waist tall and ~60" wide its not as tall as you think. There are also 600 gallon tanks pictured but we wont have one that big.
 
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